THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN, A LUXURY COLLECTION RESORT

Location: The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort is located on the beach in Honolulu's Waikiki neighborhood, close to International Market Place, Waikiki Beach, and Diamond Head. Other points of interest near this spa resort include Honolulu Zoo and Waikiki Aquarium. Resort Features:This Honolulu property has a private beach. The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort features a restaurant and a bar/lounge. Room service is available 24 hours a day. Recreational amenities include 2 outdoor swimming pools. Also located on site are a spa tub and a fitness facility. The property's full-service health spa has massage/treatment rooms and beauty services. This 5-star property has a business center and offers small meeting rooms. This Honolulu property has event space consisting of banquet facilities, conference/meeting rooms, and a ballroom. The property offers an airport shuttle (surcharge). Wedding services and tour/ticket assistance are available. Guest parking is available for a surcharge. Additional property amenities include valet parking, a concierge desk, and multilingual staff. This is a smoke-free property. Guestrooms: There are 528 guestrooms at The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort. Beds come with premium bedding. Bathrooms feature handheld showerheads. They also offer makeup/shaving mirrors, designer toiletries, and bathrobes. Wireless Internet access is available for a surcharge. In addition to desks and in-room safes (accommodate laptops), guestrooms offer phones with voice mail. Flat-panel televisions have pay movies. Air-conditioned rooms also include CD players, electronic check-out, welcome amenities, and electronic/magnetic keys. Guests may request a turndown service, hypo-allergenic bedding, and wake-up calls. Housekeeping is available daily. Cribs (infant beds) and rollaway beds are available on request. Guestrooms are all non-smoking.

A wonderful visit. Staying at the Royal Hawaiian has been a bucket list item for my wife and I and it lived up to our high expectations! We also attended the Hotel tour on 6 December and had a blast. The young man giving the tour was excellent!!

Mark C
,

San Jose, California

December 16

"What a grand old lady!"

When I was young my uncle was stationed at Hickam Air Force base for a number of years, and my family would visit frequently either as a summertime vacation or over the Christmas holiday. We always stayed in a hotel adjacent to the Royal Hawaiian, and I would look out the window at the pink hotel with Waikiki in the background, or listen to Don Ho singing 'tiny bubbles' as I fell asleep, for some reason wishing I could be there. We could never stay there, it was too expensive, my mom would tell me only millionaires and movie stars stayed there. So of course I always wanted to and was excited (50 years later!) to finally check this item off my bucket list.
Was it worth it' In a word, yes.
You can argue that one beachfront room on Waikiki isn't any better than another, and if you look no further than the four walls, bed, etc., you probably have a good case. But the Royal Hawaiian is so much more than just a room with a view, it's the whole experience from the moment you arrive. The service, the smiles, the laid back but classy ambiance, everything is as you'd expect it to be.
After a warm check-in we were shown to our room in the more modern Mailani tower, which we chose to get that great view of the beach. Although not overly spacious, it was simple and tasteful, with great bedding and nice amenities including the bathrobes and toiletry articles. The private deck was ample for two, with a small table and chairs, plus a small sofa and ottoman, a very nice place to relax with a glass of wine and enjoy the sunset!
Guests at the Mailani tower also enjoy a private club lounge, which includes a continental breakfast and happy hour in the evenings. Breakfast selections are limited to fresh fruits, pastries, yogurt and granola, not much but we're not big breakfast eaters so it was perfect. And fresh fruits in Hawaii just seem to taste better! Happy hour included various snacks and beer/wine, not quite dinner but a nice place to relax and have a drink.
The public areas of the hotel are also very nice, recalling a bygone day when those millionaires and movie stars would relax and chat on the big porch with the line of comfortable rocking chairs. The hotel and the guests, at any time of day, seemed to have a quiet vibe, nothing frantic, no rushing around, just chillin' and enjoying the scene. I think the place just gets everyone into that frame of mind.
There are so many great places to visit in Hawaii that although we seem to make it there every year, we don't come to Honolulu/Waikiki often. Next time we do though, I know we'll be staying here, you just can't beat the experience.

Tom T
,

Santa Monica, California

December 16

"Non-smokers beware"

A classic vintage property with all the upgrades and conveniences of newly built hotels. Walking through the lobbies and lanai's gives you a feeling of what visitors to old Hawaii must have experienced. My only criticism, and not a small issue for my family, is that rooms in the tower on the 14th floor are available to smokers. So the floors above and around the 14th floor, which included mine, had to deal with the updraft of tobacco smoke so much so, that we couldn't enjoy our nice balcony seating with beautiful ocean views, nor even leave the patio door open without having cigarette smoke drawn into the room. Starwood should make the property smoke free as their luxury hotel neighbor The Halekulani has done...doesn't seemed to have hurt their occupancy based on Halekulani availability!

LucyVacation
,

Santa Clarita, California

December 16

"3 out of 5"

Iconic, pretty, and famous hotel in the middle of Waikiki Beach. Our "standard" room for 4 adults was SMALL (but being in the old building, we understood that was to be expected). Two double beds, a window opening onto an unusable balcony, and a tiny bathroom. One of the rungs of the towel rack kept collapsing, so we learned not to use that rung. Kudos for having towel racks, though! We appreciated a place to hang our wet towels! The free wifi did not work the first two days of our stay; then it was intermittent. This hotel appeared to cater to international travelers rather than travelers from the USA. Would we stay here again' Probably not. There are plenty of other hotels in Waikiki!

266sheris
,

December 16

"Royal treatment in a superb location"

This was our first trip to Hawaii and we stayed at the Royal Hawaiian for a night before we boarded a cruise. I am a frequent traveler and was pleasantly surprised with the ambiance of the hotel and its staff. We had a 9th floor wrap around corner balcony room directly overlooking the pool and the ocean. All the rooms in the new tower are concierge level receive separate keycard access with complimentary continental breakfast and evening hors D'oeuvres and cocktails during our stay. The room was spacious and well appointed and the balcony had upgraded furniture and outdoor sofa to enjoy the lovely sea breezes and view of Diamond Head. We found all the staff to be very professional, attentive and welcoming.
Regarding the hotel's location, they are directly on the beach, just steps away from a large upscale shopping mall and shopping district with numerous restaurants to choose from. The next time we visit Oahu we will be sure to stay at this hotel again.